Heavy Bombardment of the Moon

This NASA video is called the "Evolution of the Moon", but we think that "heavy, brutal, merciless bombardment" will be better way to describe the epic cataclysmic events that shaped our Moon in the distant past.

This is why spiders move so easily along the web, never stick to it, fall off, slip or falter. Due to multitude of non-stick bristles, and a special coating, spiders actually "tip-toe" on the string in a delicate dance! - see the video of the leg in motion here.

Here is the no-less-wonderful photograph from a human digestive system, namely the external wall of small intestine, with blood vessels looking like tangled tree trucks in the jungle: " The walls of the small intestine are lined with millions of projections called villi, which absorb and transmit nutrients into the bloodstream." -

This ancient chapel is set high on a natural formation, a seventy meter tall Katskhi Pillar in Georgia, Imereti region. The original structure was built in 1200 AD on top of the column for protection against attacks by the Ottoman Empire, and is now being restored by local priest Father Maxim with the villagers' help.

There were called Jungle Yachts and featured quite a luxurious interior (here are a few images of the trailer's interior - 1, 2, 3)

"Ever heard of Attilio Gatti and his "jungle yachts?" Picture a couple of streamlined semi-trailers, set up as luxury living quarters, cruising African Congo in 1938 to 1940". The expedition was sponsored by International Harvester.

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Jupiter and Venus were...

..."just a cat's ears apart" this week! You can observe them very close to each other in the evening, till March 17 - Venus is the brighter one (more info)

(Walleserops found in Morocco - via the National Museum of Natural History, Robert M. Hazen)

As you all know, trilobites lived around 500 - 300 million years ago in Triassic period (the largest growing to the size of an umbrella). However, one fact about trilobites is even more amazing than their longevity - they roamed the oceans for all 270 million years!. The Trilobite eye is truly amazing instrument: it's the oldest eye we have on record, and also a very successful one - it gave trilobites a huge evolutionary edge compared to other species.

The most advanced species possessed compound eyes capable of 360-degree vision; what's more, their eyes were made of solid crystal! - more info. "The trilobite eye is composed of solid calcite crystals pack together."

Even more interesting is this peculiar columnar eye (complete with an eyeshade), discovered on one of the rare varieties of trilobite: "In September 2003 Fortey and Chatterton reported on a remarkable trilobite: Erbenochile erbeni, a Moroccan acastoid with an extremely well-developed schizochroal eye borne on tall, columnar palpebral lobes, rimmed with an eyeshade."

"Trilobite scientists now conclude that trilobites “possessed the most sophisticated eye lenses ever produced,” and their vision may actually have “been superior to current living animals”...

If you think that nothing resembling trilobites survives today, think again - Notostraca family are true living fossils, changed little since the Jurassic period (approximately 180 million years ago)! Here is a specimen found in Chelyabinsk, Siberia, of the Triops kind:

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4 Comments:

In case anyone was wondering, the source of the Monster Pillow sitting on a couch is an artist by the name of Deb van Zyl (http://www.debivanzyl.blogspot.com/) and after she sold that one she started taking commissions for other monsters.

Great post. So much good stuff.One fact check: trilobites went extinct at the end of the Permian period, and none survived into the Triassic. Trilobites were most common and diverse early in the Paleozoic era. None are known from the Mesozoic or later.